What We Do In the Shadows: "Jen..."

What We Do In The Shadows: "Jen..." Part XXXVIII...

Summary: There are unexpected consequences when Laszlo seeks a new human familiar...

Part XXXVIII...

1880...

Outside the great City of London, just south, inside the wall about the grounds of Carfax Abbey, a venerable and ancient estate, somewhat dilapidated in sections, though part recently refurbished to accommodate a new owner...

Though the refurbishing rather less than one would expect to make such a place livable... Ruined and long-neglected garden all about...

Night...

Dark and, yes, stormy...

"Professor Van Helsing..." the tall, commanding grey-haired figure in dark cloak, arms crossed, standing at the gate of the main entrance to the Abbey, by what once had been a rose bower in happier times, eyed the man before him, three assistants positioned to the man's sides and behind, all armed with crosses, vials of holy water, stakes. The Professor addressed, an equally riveting figure, with the same wavy hair and broadcloth coat and linen shirt of the apparition seen in present-day Staten Island by Jen and Eloise.

"Count...Dracula..." firm nod.

"Thank you so much for coming out on such a night, my dear friend." Dracula beamed. "Welcome to Carfax Abbey, all of you. Please, come in out of this weather." He waved them in...

....

"Wait...What?" Guillermo eyes phone. "Professor Van Helsing was friends with Dracula? Not his bitter and implacable enemy? That's the great secret?"

"The most important...The vampire slaying thing is also big, I suppose..." Auntie on her end replies.

"You say he was helping him find his wife and win redemption?"

"Our great ancestor had transcended the desire to merely kill his opponents to avenge victims, my dear one. He sought to free their souls, the truest victory over the Darkness. Count Dracula, after all those terrible lost ages, had come to realize he must save his Elisabete from damnation, the damnation he'd helped to cause. And to save his own soul if he was to save hers."

"Whoa...But this wife of his was...?"

"After centuries seeking to save him, she'd been trapped herself in hideous form...The powers of Darkness seeking to ensnare them both, and others, forever."

"So she was a vampire too?"

"A most hideous yet tragic one...Mighty in her evil power, yet demented, even childlike. A terrible fate, Guillermo."

"Yeah...I guess." He sighs. "Yeah, terrible to be in the grip of evil, unable to control yourself...A slave, really." He looks down at his feet, holding phone.

"'So what happened, Auntie?' might be your next question." Auntie, a bit exasperated.

We don't have a heck of a lot of time here, boy.

"Yes...Yes, what happened? Did Great-great-great whatever...?"

"...uncle..." she notes.

"...uncle...Did he help the Count and his wife?"

"He did. And others..."

"So he what, found the other one, the wife vampire, and..." slight gulp. "...helped her?"

"In a manner of speaking." She agrees.

"...And Dracula?"

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Auntie? You mean he staked them?"

Pause...

Gasp from the phone...